Please. Stop. Blaming. Others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:parent of white kid who had no hooks who got into very top SLAC... agree... she can't even celebrate her acceptance because she has to tiptoe around all of the kids who assume she is legacy or are mad that she got in and they didn't. its ridiculous.

Let's be frank, nobody really cares if your kid got into a SLAC. I doubt there's any high school where more more than one kid applies to the same SLAC, so there's really no competition. Kids that go to SLACs go because they are playing a sport there or have some personal connection to the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:parent of white kid who had no hooks who got into very top SLAC... agree... she can't even celebrate her acceptance because she has to tiptoe around all of the kids who assume she is legacy or are mad that she got in and they didn't. its ridiculous.

Let's be frank, nobody really cares if your kid got into a SLAC. I doubt there's any high school where more more than one kid applies to the same SLAC, so there's really no competition. Kids that go to SLACs go because they are playing a sport there or have some personal connection to the school.

There is a lot of competition to go to NESCAC, Centennial and Patriot League LACs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am really sorry that so many kids are hurting right now because of the college rejections. It hurts, I know. Especially when your child has worked hard and seems to be well qualified for these schools by objective measures, like GPA and test scores. My DC is one of these kids, having just been rejected or WL from seven schools over the last two weeks (and rejected ED in December).

The fact is, many schools are simply flooded with applications from well qualified students and cannot accept them all. So they make tough decisions and make decisions based on very quick reviews of applications, many of which are basically indistinguishable from one another. In some cases, they may look "unfair" because we see other kids in our orbit getting into the same school that our kid gets rejected from and we can't imagine what that kid had that ours didn't.

So, to make ourselves and our kids feel better, there is so much blaming--blaming other "lesser" URM kids, "lesser" public schools with grade inflation, "yield protection", etc.....and it is not fair to the kids who did get in. And, to be honest, it's not good for our own kids--it only feeds grievances. Let's teach them graciousness and grit. It will serve everyone better.

So, to all the kids out there who were accepted to Rice, Hopkins, Wash U, Rice, Northeastern, CMU, Northwestern: Congratulations to you! You deserve it! You are worthy of that acceptance. You earned it.

No need for condescension OP. No one is blaming kids who got into these schools. The system for applying to schools is corrupted. Bottom line. Anyone who disputes that is not playing with a full deck.

Um...if you spend 5 minutes reading some on DCUM you will see TONS of people blaming URMs, yield protection, and urban public schools--all of the things that OP mentions.

You didn’t read the post. The system is broken. No one is blaming URM kids. The. SYSTEM. IS. CORRUPTED. DO. YOU. UNDERSTAND? URM kids are not to blame. The system is to blame. The posts are an indictment of the system.

Huh? There is thread after thread saying “less qualified” URMs are getting in and it’s discrimination. You must be new to DCUM.

I think most people are more concerned with the UMC white parents who spend $$$ and pull every string possible to beef their kids resume as opposed to let them standing on their own. If the only way your kid can be impressive is through tutors, test prep, essay consultants, and EC that cost $$$, I thrilled to here colleges can see through that. Because you 100 hours from an $8k “white savior” trip or volunteering for an exclusive sports club in McLean, I am cool if admissions see through that.

Pretty sure this sums it up for me!!

Me too except that these assumptions are made about my kids due to our zip code and they didn’t have any of those benefits. [/quote

I hear you. Notice that mine is the only reply. It’s telling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:parent of white kid who had no hooks who got into very top SLAC... agree... she can't even celebrate her acceptance because she has to tiptoe around all of the kids who assume she is legacy or are mad that she got in and they didn't. its ridiculous.

Let's be frank, nobody really cares if your kid got into a SLAC. I doubt there's any high school where more more than one kid applies to the same SLAC, so there's really no competition. Kids that go to SLACs go because they are playing a sport there or have some personal connection to the school.

Wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think grade and SAT inflation is also really hurting parent and student expectations. Back in the 90s only 1-2 kids at my high school had a 4.0 GPA. There were no weighted classes so no GPAs above a 4.0 at all. I got into Carnegie Mellon with a 3.75 GPA, which was very near the top of the class for my high school; the top student ended up at Harvard.

Now students who would have been B students in the 90s have 4.3 GPA, leading both them and their parents not to realize that a top GPA is now a 4.9 or some other nonsense. It's the same with SAT scores. A 1400 used to be really good. Now it seems anything under a 1550 is mediocre. All of the good students are bunched at the top, leading to a lack of separation amongst top students and more of a lotto feeling as to who gets in. The grading scale is fundamentally broken.

It's not broken, it's intentional. And it should be considered fraud. The school brass and teachers keep gullible parents dumb and happy (and quiet) with fake As and the College Board gets suckers hooked to their fake inflated tests.

I see so many parents bragging about their kid's "all A's" and you can just tell by the course list and the kid's orbit they are an average layabout. The parents who brag about the A's never brag about official AP scores or SAT score.

Good sat scores means you are good at prepping for tests. A GPA is something accumulated over a period of four years.

MIT disagrees.

University of Chicago agrees. And has agreed since before the pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think grade and SAT inflation is also really hurting parent and student expectations. Back in the 90s only 1-2 kids at my high school had a 4.0 GPA. There were no weighted classes so no GPAs above a 4.0 at all. I got into Carnegie Mellon with a 3.75 GPA, which was very near the top of the class for my high school; the top student ended up at Harvard.

Now students who would have been B students in the 90s have 4.3 GPA, leading both them and their parents not to realize that a top GPA is now a 4.9 or some other nonsense. It's the same with SAT scores. A 1400 used to be really good. Now it seems anything under a 1550 is mediocre. All of the good students are bunched at the top, leading to a lack of separation amongst top students and more of a lotto feeling as to who gets in. The grading scale is fundamentally broken.

It's not broken, it's intentional. And it should be considered fraud. The school brass and teachers keep gullible parents dumb and happy (and quiet) with fake As and the College Board gets suckers hooked to their fake inflated tests.

I see so many parents bragging about their kid's "all A's" and you can just tell by the course list and the kid's orbit they are an average layabout. The parents who brag about the A's never brag about official AP scores or SAT score.

Good sat scores means you are good at prepping for tests. A GPA is something accumulated over a period of four years.

MIT disagrees.

University of Chicago agrees. And has agreed since before the pandemic.

What do you mean?
UChicago declared Test-Blind for next year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:parent of white kid who had no hooks who got into very top SLAC... agree... she can't even celebrate her acceptance because she has to tiptoe around all of the kids who assume she is legacy or are mad that she got in and they didn't. its ridiculous.

Let's be frank, nobody really cares if your kid got into a SLAC. I doubt there's any high school where more more than one kid applies to the same SLAC, so there's really no competition. Kids that go to SLACs go because they are playing a sport there or have some personal connection to the school.

Yeah....ok.

One thing about anonymous forums: they'll allow just about anyone spout some nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think grade and SAT inflation is also really hurting parent and student expectations. Back in the 90s only 1-2 kids at my high school had a 4.0 GPA. There were no weighted classes so no GPAs above a 4.0 at all. I got into Carnegie Mellon with a 3.75 GPA, which was very near the top of the class for my high school; the top student ended up at Harvard.

Now students who would have been B students in the 90s have 4.3 GPA, leading both them and their parents not to realize that a top GPA is now a 4.9 or some other nonsense. It's the same with SAT scores. A 1400 used to be really good. Now it seems anything under a 1550 is mediocre. All of the good students are bunched at the top, leading to a lack of separation amongst top students and more of a lotto feeling as to who gets in. The grading scale is fundamentally broken.

It's not broken, it's intentional. And it should be considered fraud. The school brass and teachers keep gullible parents dumb and happy (and quiet) with fake As and the College Board gets suckers hooked to their fake inflated tests.

I see so many parents bragging about their kid's "all A's" and you can just tell by the course list and the kid's orbit they are an average layabout. The parents who brag about the A's never brag about official AP scores or SAT score.

UChicago games ranking, little faith in the school

Good sat scores means you are good at prepping for tests. A GPA is something accumulated over a period of four years.

MIT disagrees.

University of Chicago agrees. And has agreed since before the pandemic.

What do you mean?
UChicago declared Test-Blind for next year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think grade and SAT inflation is also really hurting parent and student expectations. Back in the 90s only 1-2 kids at my high school had a 4.0 GPA. There were no weighted classes so no GPAs above a 4.0 at all. I got into Carnegie Mellon with a 3.75 GPA, which was very near the top of the class for my high school; the top student ended up at Harvard.

Now students who would have been B students in the 90s have 4.3 GPA, leading both them and their parents not to realize that a top GPA is now a 4.9 or some other nonsense. It's the same with SAT scores. A 1400 used to be really good. Now it seems anything under a 1550 is mediocre. All of the good students are bunched at the top, leading to a lack of separation amongst top students and more of a lotto feeling as to who gets in. The grading scale is fundamentally broken.

It's not broken, it's intentional. And it should be considered fraud. The school brass and teachers keep gullible parents dumb and happy (and quiet) with fake As and the College Board gets suckers hooked to their fake inflated tests.

I see so many parents bragging about their kid's "all A's" and you can just tell by the course list and the kid's orbit they are an average layabout. The parents who brag about the A's never brag about official AP scores or SAT score.

Good sat scores means you are good at prepping for tests. A GPA is something accumulated over a period of four years.

Problem with GPA is grades are teacher dependent and school dependent. Students can’t get sick or go through personal challenges because the grades will reflect. Then one bad year, kiss scholarships goodbye.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:parent of white kid who had no hooks who got into very top SLAC... agree... she can't even celebrate her acceptance because she has to tiptoe around all of the kids who assume she is legacy or are mad that she got in and they didn't. its ridiculous.

Let's be frank, nobody really cares if your kid got into a SLAC. I doubt there's any high school where more more than one kid applies to the same SLAC, so there's really no competition. Kids that go to SLACs go because they are playing a sport there or have some personal connection to the school.

Absolute nonsense. My very high stats magnet kid didn’t apply to several SLACs because acceptance rates are so low. And DC needs merit aid to attend $70,000/year + private schools. Yes, also applied and accepted to state flagship. Based on DC’s experience, the great differentiator is ED versus RD. For those who think my kid didn’t have a chance, waitlisted at several top 20 schools despite 4.85w, 500 hours SSL, NMF, National competition awards, varsity captain, leadership awards (school and intl), music and language awards, 1560 SAT. However, we were realistic about DC’s chances given ED acceptance rates and it’s all good. What school wouldn’t prefer possibly full-pay plus guaranteed acceptance? I wound have prioritized the same way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents and students here aren’t blaming “others”. They are blaming a broken system

Blaming a system they they perceive as favoring kids who are different to their own creates an “others” mentality.

It’s so interesting you would figure that even if the kids don’t get that “life is not fair” that the adults would. But it’s clear they don’t. If everyone who thought they were qualified got I then the system would be broken.

Life is not fair yet this be one of many times young people will learn this lesson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think grade and SAT inflation is also really hurting parent and student expectations. Back in the 90s only 1-2 kids at my high school had a 4.0 GPA. There were no weighted classes so no GPAs above a 4.0 at all. I got into Carnegie Mellon with a 3.75 GPA, which was very near the top of the class for my high school; the top student ended up at Harvard.

Now students who would have been B students in the 90s have 4.3 GPA, leading both them and their parents not to realize that a top GPA is now a 4.9 or some other nonsense. It's the same with SAT scores. A 1400 used to be really good. Now it seems anything under a 1550 is mediocre. All of the good students are bunched at the top, leading to a lack of separation amongst top students and more of a lotto feeling as to who gets in. The grading scale is fundamentally broken.

It's not broken, it's intentional. And it should be considered fraud. The school brass and teachers keep gullible parents dumb and happy (and quiet) with fake As and the College Board gets suckers hooked to their fake inflated tests.

I see so many parents bragging about their kid's "all A's" and you can just tell by the course list and the kid's orbit they are an average layabout. The parents who brag about the A's never brag about official AP scores or SAT score.

UChicago games ranking, little faith in the school

Good sat scores means you are good at prepping for tests. A GPA is something accumulated over a period of four years.

MIT disagrees.

University of Chicago agrees. And has agreed since before the pandemic.

What do you mean?
UChicago declared Test-Blind for next year?

Chicago went test optional in 2018.

https://www.chicagomaroon.com/article/2020/5/25/uchicago-right/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think grade and SAT inflation is also really hurting parent and student expectations. Back in the 90s only 1-2 kids at my high school had a 4.0 GPA. There were no weighted classes so no GPAs above a 4.0 at all. I got into Carnegie Mellon with a 3.75 GPA, which was very near the top of the class for my high school; the top student ended up at Harvard.

Now students who would have been B students in the 90s have 4.3 GPA, leading both them and their parents not to realize that a top GPA is now a 4.9 or some other nonsense. It's the same with SAT scores. A 1400 used to be really good. Now it seems anything under a 1550 is mediocre. All of the good students are bunched at the top, leading to a lack of separation amongst top students and more of a lotto feeling as to who gets in. The grading scale is fundamentally broken.

It's not broken, it's intentional. And it should be considered fraud. The school brass and teachers keep gullible parents dumb and happy (and quiet) with fake As and the College Board gets suckers hooked to their fake inflated tests.

I see so many parents bragging about their kid's "all A's" and you can just tell by the course list and the kid's orbit they are an average layabout. The parents who brag about the A's never brag about official AP scores or SAT score.

UChicago games ranking, little faith in the school

Good sat scores means you are good at prepping for tests. A GPA is something accumulated over a period of four years.

MIT disagrees.

University of Chicago agrees. And has agreed since before the pandemic.

What do you mean?
UChicago declared Test-Blind for next year?

Chicago went test optional in 2018.

https://www.chicagomaroon.com/article/2020/5/25/uchicago-right/

So they still take SAT/ACT scores.
If it agrees, they would have gone Test-Blind, and don't take SAT/ACT scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents and students here aren’t blaming “others”. They are blaming a broken system

Amen. It's more than just a flood of applicants and even the flood of applicants has its origin, which is part of the broken system.

Aren't we get vocal and drive change when things are broken? And if you don't think things are broken when 1600 SAT scores and 4.5 GPAs don't get you into good schools, we have different expectations for Higher EDUCATION in America.

They do get you into good schools. Just not the good schools that you think give you bragging rights.

The funny thing is kids who won the bragging rights rarely brag. They feel secure enough not to brag.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Best post on DCUM college board this year.

Thank you.

+1000